Tune in this Friday, September 13th for the Digital Divide. We'll hear a recent interview with Dan Goodin. Dan Goodin is IT Security Editor at Ars Technica, where he oversees coverage of malware, computer espionage, botnets, and hardware hacking. A journalist with more than 15 years experience, he has been chronicling the exploits of white-hat, grey-hat and black-hat hackers since 2005 as a reporter for the Associated Press and later, The Register.

Youll learn about current trends in hacking, password security and how you can protect your online accounts from being hijacked.

Glenn Greenwald — The Surveillance State (lecture)

Snooping, prying, eavesdropping, call it what you want the government is doing it on a scale never before seen. Sophisticated new technologies allow for more intrusions into our private lives. Beyond the ever present cameras, there is deep data-mining, nano-second biometric identification and drone aircraft in the skies above. The invasive monitoring of public space and the simultaneous erosion of our rights has been largely a bi-partisan affair. State surveillance power, undermining basic freedoms in the name of protecting them, is growing relentlessly. The swelling domestic databases of the NSA and FBI may contain your personal information.

The first of the election season clown conventions is over. The Republicans have concluded their ceremonies in Florida, and anointed this year's version of The Next Guy in Line -- Mitt Romney. And to no one's surprise, the GOP platform is built from the time-honored planks of tax cuts, misogyny, guns, deregulation, xenophobia, nationalism, spending cuts, patriarchy, piety, fear, anger, and deification of the rich and powerful.

But this time around, something strange is in the air. Republicans have a dubious relationship with reality, we all know this -- but depth of this year's GOP mendacity has even drawn the attention of the mainstream news media. Are journalists, at long last, deciding to be reporters instead of stenographers? Will this be the year when they finally decide to call out the liars?

Talk Nation Radio: How Young People Shut Down a Strip Mine in West Virginia and Why

Eva Westheimer was recently arrested for shutting down a strip mine in West Virginia, along with Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival ( http://rampscampaign.org ). Westheimer is a junior at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She describes the recent action she took, the ongoing campaign, and what motivates her.

Today's topic is the Coal Industry, and their plans to chop down Mountains in Appalacia and ship them through the Columbia Gorge, to China for incineration. This is a Bad Idea for many reasons. The trains leak significant amounts of Coal Dust, which degrades our health and environment. Burning Coal in China increases the Air Pollution right here, in the United States, for we live on a Globe, a closed system. Chopping down Mountains and throwing the rubble and waste into Streams is very destructive.